Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: gary roberts

After three sub-par years, Derek Roy knew his training needed to change. He knew he needed to work on his nutrition.

So this summer, the newest Predator -- who signed yesterday on a one-year $1 million contract -- enrolled in Gary Roberts' fitness program in Toronto....

"I know coming into this summer I wanted to come in the best shape I could possibly coming into the season, and that's why I sought out Gary Roberts and his workout program," Roy said. "I'm feeling great right now and hopefully at the end of the summer I'll be feeling better and not focusing on injuries."

Gary Roberts knows Cody Hodgson well. The retired 22-year veteran of the NHL has seen Hodgson try to train through a debilitating injury. Roberts has seen his young son take to Hodgson, and he watched the center respond by having daily lunches with the 4-year-old boy on Roberts’ patio. Roberts has seen the drive and desire Hodgson has to be a successful hockey player.

With all Roberts has seen, he couldn’t believe his ears.

While recapping the trade that made Hodgson a member of the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver General Manager Mike Gillis essentially said last week he was glad to be rid of the center.

“I spent more time on Cody’s issues than every other player combined on our team the last three years,” Gillis said.

Roberts was flabbergasted.

“I listened to Mike Gillis the other day,” Roberts said by phone over the weekend, “and my impression was, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“I’m 10 pounds under what I played at. I lift (weights) a couple times a week, skate every once in awhile.

“I’m healthier now, at 44, than when I was drafted at 18.’’

In its recent 100 People of Power and Influence issue, The Hockey News ranked the 10-season Calgary Flames left-winger 54th, ahead of such luminaries as uber-agent Don Meehan, Flames co-owner Murray Edwards and the CBC’s longest-playing stuck record, Don Cherry.

Amid a litany of presidents and general managers and commissioners and titans in power suits, he alone made the cut under the job description: Hockey Trainer.

Dallas Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk announced today that the club has hired former NHL player Gary Roberts as a player development consultant.

Roberts, 44, has trained several young players during the past few off-seasons near his home in Ontario, including the Stars’ James Neal, Florida’s Stephen Weiss and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, among others.

“We’re very pleased to officially add Gary Roberts as a player development consultant for our hockey club,” said Nieuwendyk. “Obviously I know Gary well and what he’s all about. He’s a first-class person and I think our young players will benefit from his years of experience.”

Gary Roberts was highly respected as the Maple Leafs fitness fanatic in his playing days, but now he wonders if poor conditioning is a reason his old team is near last place.

Speaking on former Leaf executive Bill Watters’ radio show on AM 640 yesterday, Roberts specifically cited struggling defenceman Luke Schenn as a player who didn’t train properly in the summer.

“Why is Luke struggling so much?” said Roberts, who has been doing some personal training since he retired last year for among others, top pick Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning. “He looks like he has been riding the bike all summer. If you ride that bike all the time, you’re going to get slow and you’re going to get hurt. It’s the worst thing Luke could’ve done, if that’s indeed what he did. I don’t know for sure, I don’t talk to the guys and it’s none of my business.”

Roberts declared his bias for former Leafs strength coach Matt Nichol, who was replaced with Anthony Belza during the summer and kept prefacing his comments as those of an observer and not a Leafs insider. But it’s his impression the Leafs changed from an anaerobic approach under Nichol to aerobic.

Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Gary Roberts announced his retirement today after a 21-year career that included 1,224 games, 910 points and a Stanley Cup title.

“Today, I am officially announcing my retirement from the National Hockey League,” said Roberts. “I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to be a part of this great league. The game has been so good to me and I will always be thankful for having had so many years doing what I loved to do.”

Unclaimed on waivers on trade deadline day, the 42-year-old veteran will not play another game with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. He had already announced that he would retire at the end of this season.

A formal announcement of Roberts’ retirement is expected from the Lightning.

The trade deadline is past, and with GM Bria Lawton’s intention to, as he said Wednesday, “get younger,” it seems as if Gary Roberts’ career might have come to an end. No official word from anyone, but it makes sense that the 42-year-old, 21-year veteran might take this opportunity to retire.

The left wing, a perhaps future Hall of Famer, has said this was going to be his last season, anyway. He even put on a pretty good show on the ice while being showcased as Wednesday’s trade deadline approached. But he was not at Thursday’s practice at the Ice Sports Forum and his locker no longer had a name plate.

The Lightning declined to say anything about Roberts, and his agent, Rick Curran, was cryptic.

“I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen,” Curran said. “No decisions have been finalized. He’s still a member of the team.”

“I’ve never been on waivers before,” the Tampa Bay Lightning forward said. “It’s a first for me. I hope this isn’t how it ends.”

[Gary] Roberts knows his contract is working against him. Because there is no performance bonus cushion this year, Roberts’ salary counts as a $2.42 salary cap hit, with a bonus of $10,000 for every game he plays.

Roberts was hopeful of perhaps finishing his career with the same team he started it with – the Calgary Flames – but it remains to be seen if the numbers add up for Calgary. Roberts’ team from last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins, are in Tampa tonight, although Roberts has been told he won’t be in the lineup until the Lightning see what happens tomorrow at noon.

McKenzie also notes that Roberts was not told by the Lightning organization personally that he’d been placed on waivers—he found out from his brother in Toronto.

The most interesting thing to come out of the Thursday’s morning skate (well, the morning meeting, there wasn’t really a skate) is that left wing Gary Roberts will retire after this season….

“I don’t think there’s any doubt, I’m gone after this season,” Roberts said. “I’m going to retire. I’d like to finish on a god note. I’d like to come back and prove I can play and hopefully stay healthy enough to finish the season and finish playing a stretch of games and at least have some success. I’d like to finish on a high note.”

“At one point I thought I wasn’t going to play again,” he said. “I decided that, after the way things went in the playoffs, that I wasn’t ready to quit.”

“People say, ‘Oh, you’re old, you can’t play anymore,’ but I truly believe it was kind of a fluke season,” Roberts said. “Everybody has a year once and a while with injuries. I’m close to being 100 percent and really feel good coming in this year and having a good season.”

Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts are officially members of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and defenceman Dan Boyle might be the player in the team’s cross-hairs.

Malone has agreed to a seven year, $31.5 million contract, while Roberts agreed to terms on a one year contract that pays him a base salary of $1.25 million plus $10,000 for every game that he plays in the 2008-09 NHL regular season. So if Roberts were to play in all 82 games, he would earn $820,000 in bonuses, which could make his total income for the season $2.07 million.

A day after trading for their rights, The Tampa Bay Lightning are close to signing Ryan Malone to a long-term year deal that will exceed $30 million and Gary Roberts to a one-year year deal that has the potential to reach $2 million, Sportsnet has learned.

...and one source, who doesn’t represent either players, but was monitoring the situation, predicted deals would get done for both players before noon on July 1, when they would otherwise hit the open market.

And Erik Erlendsson of The Tampa Tribune is also monitoring the situation on his blog.

If things keep going at the current pace, the Lightning could announce contracts for both Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts by later today. If that happens, give the Lightning credit for turning a tide that, for a while, seemed to be going against it.

Mike Liut, the agent for left wing Ryan Malone, said his client has not signed a contract but a deal with the Lightning “is going to get done. ... I think we’ll finish it today.” That doesn’t mean it will be announced today, of course.

Update 9:29pm ET: The deal is signed, says TSN. Their headline currently reads, “MALONE INKS SEVEN YEAR DEAL WITH LIGHTNING”

Ryan Malone has agreed to a seven year, $31.5 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Malone, who would have drawn considerable interest from around the NHL as an unrestricted free agent, will earn between $7 and $8 million in each of the first two years of the deal.

We can’t recall any player in Penguins history or even Pittsburgh sports history quite like Gary Roberts. We don’t remember fans falling in love so deeply with a player in such a short period of time. Sure people adored Mario Lemieux or Sidney Crosby right off the bat but that was because they were proclaimed saviors of the franchise in one way or another.

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Georges Laraque drops the gloves and calls the shots when he slides into the main chair as guest host of Off The Record (OTR), tonight at 6 p.m. ET on TSN.

Not one to back down from a good fight – or a good debate – Laraque will ask the hard-hitting questions to the show’s guests, which include Penguins teammate Gary Roberts, who will be featured in-studio during the Up Front and Next Question segments of the show. [...]

The other guests on tonight’s show will include Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice-President Jim Devellano. Together, Laraque and the guest panelists will take on the key newsmakers and hottest sports topics of the day, including NHL free agency.

In nearly 2,600 episodes, Laraque is the first NHLer to ever host the show.

This is appearing on Canada’s OTR only, not the ESPN version. But it should be available in the online video archives at TSN after the show, for anyone (Pens fans!?) who may be interested.

The decision, though, is up to Roberts. He said he would have to take the summer to reassess his situation and his drive only because of the arduous season he has just gone through.

Roberts, as we mentioned before, is the king of fitness, but he has battled a respiratory infection, a broken leg, a high ankle sprain, a groin strain and a mild case of pneumonia this year.

“Well, I mean obviously I’d be lying to you if I didn’t think about (retirement),” Roberts said. “For sure it’s a thought of mine, but it’s nice to have my legs finally. It’s been since Christmas. I’m excited about the way I feel.”

After all, a Pittsburgh loss in the Joe Louis Arena and the Detroit Red Wings are Stanley Cup champions. The kids, well, deep down in their collective hearts, you just know they believe there will be a second chance, maybe even a third or fourth if they can keep the core of the team together.

Not so for Roberts.

“Deep down I know this is probably the last time for me,” Roberts said in the hours before the team plane departed for what could be the last game of the season and possibly Roberts’ career.

“He certainly has provided a spark and some energy,” Cleary admitted. “He’s a gritty guy and he was a big influence on that winning goal. But we have guys that’ll hit and get in there and get dirty, too.”

One of those guys, Dallas Drake, was on the receiving end of a pair of Orpik’s hits in that highlight-reel shift Wednesday. Drake, though, had a shift just like it in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, and tonight he’ll undoubtedly look to introduce himself to his old friend, Mr. Roberts.

Q. What does Malkin have to do to re-establish himself as a dominant player in this series?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: First of all, we still have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a world-class player. He needs to stay focused. He needs to stay on top of his game. He needs to skate. He needs to battle. And if he’s doing those things, good things can happen to him.

Gary Roberts tried to bite his tongue on the eve of the Stanley Cup final, visibly upset after Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Michel Therrien told him he wouldn’t be in the lineup for the opening game Saturday night.”Obviously, I’m not happy about it but I’m going to let Mike talk about why I’m not playing,” Roberts said.

Therrien was not asked about Roberts during his news conference Friday but later told a reporter that the media would find out after the pre-game skate Saturday whether Roberts was in or not.

Roberts let the cat out of the bag.

“I’ve been told I’m not playing tomorrow night,” said Roberts. “But it’s not the time for me to bitch and complain.”

(Gary) Roberts will take his regular spot at left wing on the fourth line. Adam Hall, who replaced Roberts when he was injured, will probably move to centre on that line to fill in for Talbot, with Georges Laraque at right wing.

While he was not happy about sitting out on Tuesday, Roberts said he understood.

“Obviously, the way this team is playing, it’s a tough lineup to crack,” he said. “Unfortunately for Max [Talbot], he broke his foot and it’s an opportunity for me to get back in and help the team.”

In fact, the team chemistry is such that head coach Michel Therrien does not want to change it even though veteran forward Gary Roberts is healthy enough to return to the lineup. Roberts, who played a big role in the first two games of the first round of the NHL playoffs before suffering a groin injury, was told in the morning that he will not play in Game Three of the Eastern Conference semi-final against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

With the Penguins holding a 2-0 series lead and Adam Hall playing well in Roberts’ place, Therrien decided to leave things as they are.

“We want Gary Roberts back in the lineup but we want him back at the right time,” Therrien said. “If we bring him back, who are we going to take out? We have great chemistry right now.”

“Last year, I think we were in shock after Game 1 in Ottawa. They came out and battled us so hard,” said Roberts, who tried to aw-shucks his way around his role in last night’s win. He said luck was the big factor since he is still not in prime shape because of the injury layoff.

“Hopefully, I’ll feel as good tomorrow as I do right now,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of jump in my legs out there. I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.”

Perhaps. But Roberts had enough left in the tank to score his second goal with 1:35 left and swat around a couple of Senators who tried to rough up the Penguins at the end of the game.

Watching Roberts show the way for his youthful teammates must have gone down especially bitterly with Senators owner Eugene Melnyk. He has long believed, as have the team’s fans, that Roberts is just the kind of heart-and-soul player the team lacked.

Roberts, who hasn’t played since breaking his leg and getting a high ankle sprain when Buffalo center Tim Connolly fell on him Dec. 29, aggravated his ankle problem when he stumbled while skating at Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday.

He has stopped skating and is not expected to get back on the ice until at least mid-week.

Roberts’ oft-stated goal has been to dress for the Penguins’ final five regular-season games, but that would entail returning for the New York Islanders’ visit to Mellon Arena Thursday, which looks to be pretty much out of the question at this point.

Roberts, who signed with the Penguins last season after getting a call from Recchi, let his feelings be known on the release of his friend. Recchi cleared waivers Wednesday and the Penguins now have the option to send him to the AHL or negotiate a buyout of his $1.75-million (U.S.) contract.

“He brought this team together last year,” Roberts said. “I think he’s still a top-six forward on any team. Unfortunately, they [the Penguins’ management] didn’t think so.”

But the feelings of veterans shouldn’t matter when a team is based on youth. Unless the Penguins arrive a bit early, Recchi, Roberts and Sydor will almost certainly not be around when the team wins its next Stanley Cup. So who cares how they feel? Respect them. But don’t placate them. Don’t treat them with kid gloves when they play badly.

If anybody feels Roberts is still worth anything, Shero should trade him. Try calling north of the border, Ray. If his misguided raging-bull style on the ice is any indication, Roberts is not handling his decline well.

Recchi and Sydor can still help in lesser roles. Just make sure they have lesser roles.